mailwasher pro. questions?

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Kenny Pryor
Posts: 100
Joined: 27 Dec 2004 1:01 am
Location: Decatur ILLinois area, USA

mailwasher pro. questions?

Post by Kenny Pryor »

My computer crashed, & I have to load filters etc. again. I have tryed but can't get them into MWP.
I NEED HELP.
thanks,
kenny :( :?: :aside:
Kenny Pryor
IL
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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

Kenny;
I am responsible for publishing MailWasher Pro filters. You can download a set from my MailWasher Pro Filters page.

Once you arrive please read as much of my information as you can digest. The actual filers load into an iframe, or, you can download them via the supplied links. There are details on that page detailing how to install these filters, or use only parts of them. Follow the instructions to the letter!

There are three versions of my filters available.
  • Combined old and new filters, with manual deletion
  • New filters, with manual deletion
  • New filters, with automatic deletion
If you are trying to recover your own filters, open the %AppData%\MailWasherPro folder and look for a file named filters.backup. Close MailWasher, then rename filters.txt to something like filters-bad.txt. Next, rename filters.backup to filters.txt. Open MWP again and see if your filters have been restored.

Whenever you manually edit the filters or blacklist files you must first close MailWasher, or your changes will be overwritten when it finally does close.
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog
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Wiz Feinberg
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Post by Wiz Feinberg »

I would like to add that anytime you use an option to automatically delete email matching any criteria, always make sure that you have activated and configured the Recycle feature of MailWasher Pro. Compose some test messages, send them to yourself and delete them in MailWasher Pro. Use the Restore feature via the Recycle Bin button to make sure it is able to send restored messages to you. If you cannot restore a deleted message then something is misconfigured in the Recycle settings.
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog
Kenny Pryor
Posts: 100
Joined: 27 Dec 2004 1:01 am
Location: Decatur ILLinois area, USA

mailwasher pro.(filters)

Post by Kenny Pryor »

I have copied filters into mailwasher pro, but when I open the program is doe's not show the new filters. I uninstalled the program, then reinstalled but still doe's not use the filters I installed.

can anybody help? :cry: :?:

[/b]
Kenny Pryor
IL
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Wiz Feinberg
Posts: 6091
Joined: 8 Jan 1999 1:01 am
Location: Mid-Michigan, USA
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Re: mailwasher pro.(filters)

Post by Wiz Feinberg »

Kenny Pryor wrote:I have copied filters into mailwasher pro, but when I open the program is doe's not show the new filters. I uninstalled the program, then reinstalled but still doe's not use the filters I installed.

can anybody help? :cry: :?:

[/b]
I can help. Tell me exactly what you did, step by step, in an outline. Name the directory into which you copied/saved my filters and the file name you saved them with.

To avoid duplication of effort, here are the basics for using my filters in MailWasher Pro.
  1. Download one of the versions of my filters to a separate downloads directory (Folder) and position and resize it to one side.
  2. Open MailWasher Pro, click on Help, then on "About"
  3. At the bottom of the About page there is a link to MailWasher Pro's Application Data directory. Click on that link.
  4. The data directory will open in a folder contents view. Now close the About box.
  5. Make sure your Folder View options are set so as to show, not hide known file types and extensions and to show hidden files and folders.
  6. Close MailWasher Pro, but leave its application data folder open.
  7. Open the folder into which you saved the downloaded filters file from my website and position it to one side of your desktop view, away from the application data directory. Depending on which file you selected the filters file will have one of these names:
    1. filters.txt
    2. filters2.txt
    3. filters3.txt
  8. If it has a number in the file name, rename that file to "filters.txt"
  9. Go to the application data directory for MWP and rename the existing filters.txt to something like filters-org.txt - making sure MailWasher is closed!
  10. Now drag and drop "Copy" the downloaded and renamed "filters.txt" into the MWP data directory. It must be named "filters.txt" exactly (without the quotes) for the program to use it.
  11. If you get an Access Denied error when trying to rename or copy files into the data directory, see my note below this outline.
  12. Open MailWasher Pro and check to see if my filters are now showing on the right side. Press Control + F7 if they are not visible.
  13. The filters should appear on the right side of the program and you can edit them as you wish by double clicking on any filter and altering its actions or rules.
If you are able to rename the existing filters.txt, then drag and drop another one into the AppData directory, you possess the required permissions to manage the program's files. As long as MailWasher was closed when you made the changes, they should take.

If you are not allowed to rename the original filters.txt, or overwrite it with the downloaded copy, you have a permissions and file ownership problem that we must tackle.

If they don't take despite allowing you to change file names and drop in a new copy, it may be due to a phantom copy of the process still running in memory (rare). You can see if this is happening after you close the program by opening your Windows Task Manager, using the 3 finger salute (Ctrl + Alt + Del). Look under the Processes tab to see if MailWasher.exe is still running and use "End Process" if it is. You should now be able to copy my filters over.
"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
Main web pages: Wiztunes Steel Guitar website | Wiz's Security Blog | My Webmaster Services | Wiz's Security Blog
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